Aftermath
by Candelabra
Summary: The aftermath of a battle between Sakura and Sasuke's new teammate Karin. [contains manga spoilers] [Title finally changed. still stupid, but whatever]


**A/N:** Just a quick one-shot that I thought up when thinking about what would happen if Sasuke's new team met his old one. WARNING! Manga spoilers for the most recent arc ... although I don't have Juugo, because he's still something of a wildcard.

**Disclaimer:** The Naruto manga does not belong to me. Thank all the gods that it doesn't, because I would make all their lives even more miserable than they already are.

* * *

There was a brisk, cool wind blowing over the empty battleground. It caught on their clothes and tugged at their hair, whisking it across their faces. 

It was Suigetsu that found her first. Her clothes were torn, her glasses gone, her hair matted with blood.

"Yo. Karin," he hissed, poking her with a foot. She did not stir. He raised his eyebrows in mild surprise.

"Hey, Sasuke!" he shouted over his shoulder, "I found her — I think she's dead!"

The dark-haired boy looked up from where he'd been absent-mindedly searching the ground. Within a few moments he was by Suigetsu's side, staring down at their fallen teammate.

Who appeared to be not as dead as Suigetsu had assumed. She sat up with a sudden cough, clutching at her throat.

"Oh. I guess not," said Suigetsu. She glared at him.

"Don't sound so disappointed."

"Well, sorry if I don't want someone useless on the team,"

"I'm not useless!" she said, outraged. "I won!" She blushed a little as she said this. It was true, but she had no intention of mentioning that if it wasn't for an extraordinary amount of luck she would have most likely been killed.

"... okay, so if you're this beat-up and you _won _..." Suigetsu was saying.

"Shut up," she snapped. "You have no say in the matter of me coming with you — n-not that I want to be here, I'm just here because Sasuke said I had to be, right?" She looked at him nervously.

Sasuke, who had been saying nothing while they argued, turned when he heard his name.

"Where's your opponent?" he asked, ignoring her question.

"Oh, um." she flushed a bit. "I don't know, for sure. Over there, I think ..."

She pointed off to the left, and all three looked for a moment. Suigetsu yawned.

"Yeah, right. She probably beat you to a pulp and ran off."

"She did not!" snapped Karin. "I killed her, alright? Heads are not supposed to twist at that angle!"

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say."

Sasuke was not listening. He had just caught sight of something that stood out violently among the grey dust and rocks on the ground. A shock of brilliant pink.

_Is it ... ? No._

But he had to make sure.

Without a word to his companions, he disappeared. Karin turned. "Wha ...?" she asked, then blinked when she saw him standing some distance away.

"Oh ..." she said. "Heh, I guess he found her. See?" She gave Suigetsu a challenging look.

Sasuke's face was utterly blank as he stared down at the body of Karin's opponent.

Broken and bloody fingers clutched the Konoha headband through torn gloves in a desperate grasp, almost as though it actually meant something to the owner. The arms and dress were torn and covered in blood as well, and one leg was twisted behind the back.

Her head was twisted, too. Green eyes stared into nothingness behind matted and torn pink hair. Sakura was somehow beautiful even when lying dead and broken.

There was the barest hint of air pushing against his back, and Karin and Suigetsu were there, staring down with him.

"Right," said Suigetsu after a moment of silence had passed, "I take it back, you did kill her."

Karin would have said something immature right then but for the fact that Sasuke ... was still staring at the body. There was something odd about the way he held himself, looking at it.

"Um ... Sasuke?" she said hesitantly. Suigetsu noticed too.

"Oh, for gods' sakes, Sasuke," he groaned, "I know you're still a huggable Konoha nin at heart, but don't freak out or anything about some stupid girl's death ..."

Karin jumped like someone had hit her with an electric shock. "Konoha nin ..." she whispered.

Suigetsu looked at her. "What?"

"The girl ... she had a Konohagakure head-band ..."

"Really? Wow. Did you know her, or something?" he asked Sasuke, sounding mildly interested.

Sasuke's eyes had gone curiously blank.

"_Yes! I'm with Sasuke-kun!"_

"_Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, you're __alive__ ..."_

"_... at least Naruto's not a coward!"_

"_Stop. Please. You're scaring me ..."_

"_I brought you some apples, Sasuke-kun!"_

"_Both of you, stop it!"_

"_Do you remember ...?"_

"_Ah, it makes sense that you don't ... after all, that happened a long time ago ... but that was when it started ..."_

"_I love you more than anything in the world!"_

"_This time, Sasuke-kun, I will stop you with my own power!"_

"_Sasuke ... kun ..."_

"... Sasuke?"

He jerked abruptly. Karin and Suigetsu were looking at him — the former worriedly, the latter with amused interest. As Karin stared, she almost thought that she could see a glimmer of some emotion in his eyes. It was too quick for her to be certain, but she thought she saw ... sadness. And maybe a little regret. But it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Once," he said in the same emotionless voice he'd always had. "A long time ago."

Then he turned his back on the girl's broken body. Suigetsu and Karin followed him away from the battleground.

* * *

**A/N:** Before anyone freaks and tells me Sakura would never lose to Karin, or something along those lines ... I put in the bit about getting lucky for a reason. Also, I skipped the actual fight for two reasons: One, time. It's 12:30 right now. OO And two, I don't actually know what Karin can do ... she has to be able to do SOMETHING or Sasuke wouldn't have chosen her, so though I find her a bit annoying I decided not to make her weak. I still think Sakura could probably beat her, so ... again, she got lucky. 

Hopefully I didn't make them too out of character. Please review and tell me what you think!

Oh, and for anyone who's read my Gaara and Temari child story, don't worry! It will be continued. I'm working on it. :)


End file.
